For Your Garden - November 2015

Native plants provide beauty as well as food and shelter for wildlife. Native species are adapted to the Illinois climate. They require little or no watering and are resistant to drought, insects and most diseases. Because they are perennials, you can welcome their presence year after year.

hoary vervain (Verbena stricta)
Photo © Lance Merry

Hoary vervain grows in prairies, fields and other open areas statewide. The leaves and stem are covered with white, hairlike structures. Leaves are toothed, oval and arranged in pairs along the stem. Flowers (about one-fourth inch wide) are produced from May through September. The flowers are light red-purple or rose pink and are produced on spikes at the top of the plant. This plant may grow from one to four feet tall.

Classification and taxonomy are based on Mohlenbrock, Robert H. 2014. Vascular flora of Illinois: A field guide. Fourth edition. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 536 pp.

​Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Verbenaceae